Silent and Clear
by Mikataiyou
Summary: During the storyline of LeafGreen, the player defeats her rival several times. But what does the rival himself think about it? Oneshot.


Silent and clear

From the moment my gramps called me to his lab, I knew it wasn't another ordinary day. I knew, that today I would finally break free from this boring little scenery, the boring little 'story' – as they called it; it was hardly worth telling to me. Soon I wouldn't be the little meanie of the little Pallet town anymore, soon I would be a glories trainer, walking a road… Ugh. That sounds too regular. I'm better than that.

Ever since I was little, I knew I was something special. I mean, you could see it in an instant; I'm smart, I have a head for strategy, I know everything, there's nothing I have ever learned, I've always known, deep in my heart, if not perfectly. I'm daring, brave, and charismatic, I have authority. There's nothing I lack!

As you can see, I was born ready to become the champion. And there was no-one who could stop me; not the trainers stalking for travellers on the routes of Kanto, not the gym leaders, not even those oh-so-amazing elite four thugs. Nobody was better than I was. Everybody knew that.

Everyone, expect for two people. One of them would be my very own big sister, Daisy. She said I had potential, but lacked something important. Yeah right. She was just jealous, I tell you.

The other one would be the person Daisy believed had what I supposedly lacked. Not that she ever mentioned it, but I could see it from her eyes. And boy, did she pay for it; for whole her life. What can I say? Since she didn't believe in me, I had to show her what I had; in comparison to her, of course. That's why they started calling me a meanie. Pfft. They were all so pathetic.

Well, it didn't matter anyway. Today I would leave this hole, and prove those two idiots wrong. Today, gramps would give me a pokemon of his, it'd probably be quite weak though, and I'd train it and use it to become what I was meant to be. Excellent.

I went to gramps' lab that morning, slowly, so I wouldn't be on time. There was no need for me to hurry; everything started when I came, anyway.

To my surprise, I found the lab empty. It was not like gramps to come late, or even leave the lab. His aides didn't know where he went, so I settled with waiting. I was irritated though. Making someone wait like this was just rude.

I looked out of the window, bored, just to see gramps and _that girl_ walking towards the lab. It was her alright; I hadn't seen her in a while, but I easily recognized the long, brown hair jumping all over the place when she walked, that totally "adorable" white hat on her head, that red skirt she had owned for what – four years now? And of course, the worn out green top with some random black on it, that ragged bag she always carried, her muddy shoes that were supposed to be white, those ridiculously loose socks… All there.

Her name was Leaf. I knew it because everyone called her that, I don't recall her ever telling it to me. To be honest, I don't recall her ever even talking aloud.

She's a quiet girl, that Leaf. She never talked, not once had I heard her agree, disagree or chat with someone. But since no-one else seemed to think she was weird, I guess the talked when I wasn't around. Figures; I'm so good looking, she probably had a crush on me.

As I was thinking, gramps and the girl entered the building. Gramps walked right past me, and Leaf came to stand next to me. She nodded so slightly I might have missed it if my eyesight hadn't been perfect. After that she just ignored me, looking at gramps. How irritating.

I spoke up, wanting to scold gramps for his rudeness, but just preferred asking what he wanted from me. Pretended that I didn't already know.

" Green? I didn't expect you here this soon…" he started blabbering.

Green. That isn't my real name, not at all. But that's what everyone always called me, and calls me even now. I don't know for sure, but I heard that she, Leaf, started it. I have no idea why someone like her would give me a new name, but I don't really care. I make every name look cool.

Well right. Gramps started explaining. Blah, blah, blah… What?! He was going to give a pokemon to that little girl first? Before me?

I let him know how shocked I was, but he just told me to be patient. Hah! Me? Patient? Of course I was! She was the one not being patient, snatching a pokemon right in front of my eyes, that little thief!

I hadn't exactly decided on what I was going to pick yet, but I knew she was going to pick what I wanted. Just to irritate me, that little…

I hadn't noticed that table until the little Leaf girl walked up to it. It was embarrassing; placing a pokemon of the future champion on such an insignificant table.

The girl examined the pokeballs without a word. When gramps would ask if she wanted the pokemon in the ball on her hand, she'd just shake her head. Learn to talk!

Eventually, she didn't shake her head, though. She thought after for a while, and then nodded. So it was decided; Bulbasaur was hers. Feh. It was a boring pokemon anyway, I never even considered it.

However, this also made my pick clear; why should I pick a water pokemon, weak to something like Bulbasaur, when I could take a Fire type that easily defeated it with one attack?

So I went straight up to that pokeball, and took the Charmander. My future Chraizard was on my hands now, where it belonged.

That Leaf girl just bowed slightly, and started walking of. Feh. Like I'd let her.

I called her name. She turned around, with a puzzled, yet understanding look on her face. Like she knew what was coming to her.

I probably don't need to tell you what happened next. I challenged her and her weak little pokemon for a battle, of course. Gramps didn't seem very pleased, but didn't try to stop us. Instead, he decided to even the mach up a little, by giving the little girl hints as we fought. Not that I cared; I was way too good for her anyway.

Her way of battling was sort of weird. While I gave orders to the pokemon in front of me, she still didn't talk. She just stood there, nodding to her pokemon occasionally. I had no idea how it was supposed to understand her, but I didn't really care. Apparently it did, anyway.

As I kept ordering my new Charmander to use Scratch (who'd use a weak move like growl, I mean, it didn't do anything at all). She didn't know what was best for her, and made her little Bulbasaur use quite many growls. Idiot.

Midway though that battle, I started wondering how the defence of that Bulbasaur seemed to be increasing. Charmanders attacks seemed to be getting less and less effective, and the Bulbasaur would just not faint. I didn't understand it at all; I mean, how was that even possible?

I was starting to get distracted around then. The Bulbasaur hardly closed its mouth from growling so much, and it annoyed me, annoyed so much. My Charmander seemed confused too, looking at me helplessly. The thing couldn't even do anything on its own.

That was when the Bulbasaur closed its mouth. It moved its legs slightly, and banged into my Charmander all of a sudden. Charmander was surprised, shocked, and the hit seemed to be critical on top of that, so it ended up very hurt. Figures.

I was dazed, but managed to order another scratch. Charmander collected itself, raised its hand and ran towards Bulbasaur. Taking a rolling step, it slashed its short claws on the opponent, causing the Bulbasaur to sidestep more than slightly. Now I saw some difference; the Bulbasaurs breathing got heavier, there was some marks of combat on its, whatever you call it… skin, I guess. It was definitely low on HP; one scratch would take it down.

I was so pleased with it, that I didn't even notice that my own Charmander was in the exact same state, especially after performing an attack. So when the Bulbasaur started running towards it again, it tried to evade, but couldn't take more than two steps when the green little pokemon banged right to it again, this time completely knocking the air out of the fire pokemon. Battle over; I lose.

I couldn't believe it; that little girl who couldn't even speak had beaten me! No – she had beaten Charmander! The pokemon was a weakling! No-one could beat me!

I let the people in the room, gramps, that girl, the aides, know the truth too. I left the lab as fast as I could, to train. I couldn't have a weak pokemon, could I now? I had to train, and fast.

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A few days later, I found myself walking around Route 22, feeling grumpy. I was coming from the pokemon league, or rather, just the gates to it. The guards had not let me through, because I didn't have any badges. It's not like I had wanted to battle there yet! I just wanted to check the place out, to know what I was aiming for, and where I'd be working in the future. But no; no going through without the Boulderbadge, no.

As I walked, I fingered the pokedex gramps had given me in my pocket. I had gained it two days ago; it was some sort of encyclopaedia, recording data on caught pokemon. He wanted me and Leaf, again that little girl, to go around the world and catch pokemon, so he could gain full knowledge of all of the pokemon in the world.

Obviously, this was a task I could easily fulfil myself; I didn't need the girly to that. I had told her it too. She hadn't even answered. I wonder what her voice even sounds like? I don't recall ever hearing it.

Well, anyway, I had trained my Charmander quite a lot since then. I had captured all the pokemon around, but kept one in my team. A Pidgey. Right now it might seem weird, but he really did have quite a potential to become a powerful Pidgeot one day. The one I would fly on once I'd become the glorious champion. I had trained him a little already, and it seemed my plan was coming along well.

By now, I had realized what I had done wrong in the battle against Leaf. I had realized how stupid I was to think that a pokemons' growl had no effect on the. Of course, I had known it earlier for sure too, I had just forgotten.

Anyway, as I walked towards Viridian city, I heard some rustling from the tall grass I had trained in a while ago. I looked up, and saw her again. She looked as pathetic as usual, or maybe even more, with that messy brown hair, even more worn out shoes and the slightly dirty pokeball on her hand. Like a little girl playing pokemon trainer in a mud pole.

I guess she was heading for the pokemon league. Feh. Someone like her? If I didn't have any badges, she'd never even get them!

As I walked up to her, she looked at me with a blank face. She didn't seem any more pleased to see me than I was to see her, but she didn't seem to mind either. She just looked me into the eyes, and listened quietly as I talked to her.

Even though the things I said to her weren't exactly nice (since the truth hurt sometimes), she didn't respond in any way. Silence, silence, silence. So annoying.

Of course, I couldn't show her that she had annoyed me. So I pretended to be interested to see if her pokemon had gotten any better. I challenged her to a battle, and she still didn't open her mouth. She didn't accept my challenge officially; she just took up her pokeball, and called for a pokemon, without words.

I called for my Pidgey, and she called for a Mankey. Idiot. Who'd use a fighting type pokemon against a flying type pokemon?

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Well then. A few weeks I had lost another battle to that Leaf girl (I still couldn't believe it; she had defeated my Pidgey with a Mankey – even though it had a type disadvantage, and knocked Charmander out easily, without even switching pokemon! It was ridiculous!), I was walking down Route 24, on a lot better mood than back then (well, my mood had gotten better once I had easily defeated Brock at the Pewter city gym, but that's not the point).

It had been a good day; Bill, the famous pokemaniac, had shown me his rare pokemon, boosting my pokedex greatly, and on top of that, I had caught this really promising Abra. I was just two evolutions away from having an Alakazam.

Oh, and talking about evolution; my Pidgey had evolved into a Pidgeotto. Charmander had tried to evolve too, but I had decided to keep him as he was for a while.

Well, as I walked down that bridge they call the Nugget Bridge, I noticed a familiar face walking towards it from the south, Cerulean city to be exact. Yup, her again. She was as ragged as ever, with her clothes even more worn out, probably from crawling through the Mt. Moon. Smiling a moronic smile, she seemed to be having a nice time travelling.

Her smile didn't change one bit once she spotted me. Probably because I was so close to her I could have touched her face if I would have wanted. She was probably so surprised she didn't know how to react.

Well, anyway, I told her what an awesome day I had had so far. She didn't say a word. Not that I expected her to, I was even more used to it now than I had been before.

I figured that since it had been such a good day, I might as well regain my lost pride by finally defeating her in a battle. I knew what I had done wrong last time; Pidgey was half normal type too, after all, so fighting attacks worked regularly on him. And Charmander had just lost because I had been so dazed of her defeating Pidgey so easily.

This girl really wasn't that hard to beat; after all, she had no talent whatsoever, like I did. She had just been lucky, and accidentally benefited of my small mistakes. I could easily beat her. No problem at all.

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So, the party at SS.Anne was over, and the ship would soon take off. I decided to hurry out of the ship, I didn't want to sail anywhere, who knew what the ship might crash into, with that old, seasick man as a captain. But he did give me the HM Cut, so I guess he wasn't that bad.

My third loss to Leaf three days ago had indeed been embarrassing. I had forgotten that I had not trained Abra at all, and all he knew was teleport. So one down. My Pidgeotto had managed to take down that stupid Paras she had used to defeat my Abra, but her Mankey somehow managed to take him down again. We had battled our starters again; but since her Ivysaur made Charmander fall sleep, I had no chance against her after that. Gosh, it was terrible. That girl never ran out of luck.

I had made sure she didn't think too much of herself, and was about to leave her, when I figured that I could at least make her talk, if nothing else. I had walked back to her, and given her that little thing called a Famechecker I had gained somewhere along the way. I didn't really need it, I don't care about others.

However, it'd be rude not to thank when gaining a present. I'd finally hear what her voice was like, her eternal silence kept bugging me more ever time I met her.

Well, here I was at the SS.Anne, and I still didn't know what her voice was like. She had thanked me by smiling and bowing slightly. How boring.

As I had walked off for real, I had turned around and glanced at her. I had seen her hugging her pokemon, probably happy because of the victory. Sure… I figured she might be a huggy person.

As I walked down the stairs, I heard familiar light steps from the hallway. So, when I turned my gaze, I wasn't surprised to see her walking towards me, looking as carefree as always. Her clothes, worn out from the journey, really stood out in the fancy, clean ship. I had to hold back laughter.

She stopped as soon as she saw me, and I had to bother to walk up to her yet again. I greeted her appropriately to the situation, and after chatting with her for a while. With her being as silent as always, it felt like having a monologue. It felt stupid, so I stopped, and without further ado, challenged her to a battle. This time I would win for sure.

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Lavender town. A cute little town, though too small to my taste. Reminded me of my hometown.

I had come there just because I had heard there was a strange ghost haunting the Pokemon Tower there. I have never really believed in ghosts, so I figured it was probably a cool pokemon I could add to my team.

Surprisingly, I had suffered my fourth loss to that girl, though it was quite some time ago. I'm not really in the mood of going into the details, but she had defeated me, nevertheless. Lucky girl – too bad she still didn't have any talent.

Well then. I entered the Pokemon tower, and walked around a little. Wild Ghastly started instantly attacking me, and I caught one that seemed to be good enough. I wasn't sure if I was going to use it in my team, but I still wanted it to have potential.

It took be about an hour to circle the tower, but I couldn't find the ghost. Suddenly, I was attacked by a little pokemon that was far from a ghost. A brown little one (solid), with a skull as a helmet. Oh. A Cubone.

It didn't take me long to weaken the Cubone enough to capture it, and gain its pokedex data. The pokeball went off to my box, after I had chosen not to give the pokemon a nickname, of course. I wasn't like _that_ girl – giving nicknames to pokemon is just stupid.

Speak of the devil; since in the instant the pokeball had disappeared, the Leaf girl appeared from the stairs behind me. I couldn't believe my eyes. What was she doing in here? This tower was a graveyard for pokemon… Her pokemon weren't dead, were they? I mean, how could they have been? I doubt anyone would catch pokemon _that_ old…

So, I went to say hello, of course. In my way; I didn't want her to think we were friends or something. I don't hang out with zeros like her.

I greeted her. No response. I told her I had captured a Cubone, and asked how her pokedex was doing. No response. I asked her if her pokemon really were dead. A response, but not what I wanted; she just shook her head.

Irritated, I offered to make them faint. So we took up a pokeball each.

Sure, that old woman in the room eyed us quite angrily, disturbing the peace of the sleeping souls by battling near their graves, but what did I care. Leaf didn't look very eager, but she fought me anyway. Hah. She had probably slacked off with her training. She stood no chance against me.

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Geez. Team Rocket really had messed up the order in the Silph. Co. Wherever you looked, there were grunts snoring, doing a poor job as guards, people crying as hostages or random stuff lying around on the floor. I didn't bother to pick it up though; I only bought the best quality items.

I hadn't really paid attention to Team Rocket before, but when I saw what they had done with this huge building in Saffron city, I couldn't resist. I was curious; I just had to enter.

Curiosity wasn't the only reason I entered. I had heard that Leaf had messed up several plans of Team Rocket, and figured that the good-hearted idiot would probably come here too, trying to rescue the people. I couldn't imagine why she'd bother; there were plenty of other people who could do it. Even so, I expected her to come, so I went. I really wanted to pay her back for the latest time she had defeated me.

Yes, yes. I had lost to her once again, in the Pokemon Tower. What a bother. My pokemon had been tired already for battling off all those Ghastly, and that Cubone, and I had been exhausted from searching the ghost, so of course she'd win, coming fresh from the pokemon centre. Even the biggest idiot in the world knew that much.

Even so, when she had started hugging her pokemon after the battle again, I had left the tower again. She was definitely getting too full of herself. Ever since, I had eagerly waited to see her again; I had a responsibility to let her know her place. It was something I had to do, for her own sake.

So, I entered the Silph. Co, so I could meet with her, and battle her again. I was confident with my skills, and pokemon too; they had grown a lot stronger.

I was just killing time by spying on the Boss rocket, when I got bored, and decided to leave. It seemed like she was not coming, that girl.

I went a few floors down, when I suddenly saw someone nearly run on the other side of the room. A flash of long, brown hair. It was her.

I followed her back up the stairs. As we reached the floor right below the top, she noticed me too. I had never seen her face like that; it looked furious. Her hands were gripping harshly, her legs looked heavy as she walked, and she was all pale. Pure rage burned in her eyes.

Wow. She really was a good-hearted idiot; the Rockets angered her that much. And she was now heading for their boss, apparently.

Once Leaf saw me, her eyes softened a little, but not much. Just enough to show me that her rage wasn't towards me.

She was even more silent than before, when we battled. Just like always, she didn't give orders to her pokemon; it was like they would have sensed her thoughts; they knew what to do without her telling them. Weird as ever.

I felt odd when I battled her. I had done it so many times before, but it had never been like this. She had never been like this. Her pokemon were tired, but still overflowing with energy. She was raged, but still battled me like she always did. They didn't seem to care how many battles they'd have to go through, they had decided to defeat the rockets.

I wonder why she bothered to battle me, then? She'd just lose, which would force her to go to the pokemon centre before heading for the boss. And it didn't seem like she had time for that.

Oh well. Not that I cared. I just wanted to win. And I wasn't going to show any mercy; I'd crush her.

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Well yeah. Here I was again. Route 22, near Viridian city. I had walked here as soon as I had defeated the former boss rocket, the gym leader of Viridian gym. I now possessed eight badges; this time the guards would let me though, they'd let me go right to the Elite four. And I'd defeat their weak little pokemon, head for the champion, and make him bow before me. I was just a step away from becoming the champion.

I had defeated every trainer on my way, expect for her, of course. Leaf. The girl of eternal luck.

I had not expected her to defeat me in the Silph. Co, but I guess she had been doing some training too. Also, I did end up holding back a little, I guess. After all, she was going for the boss rocket; and who'd want to stop determinion like that? I mean, that'd be the only thing she'd ever be remembered for, defeating Team Rocket. She didn't have the talent to become a champion, or anything. She might have, with luck, if I hadn't been around.

As I peacefully walked that road again, I heard some rustling from behind me. I turned, and surprise, surprise: I saw Leaf. She was riding a bike, with her hair jumping all around, even worse than on the day we had started our journey. She looked cheerful; I guess she was fresh from a victory in the final gym, heading for the league too.

She noticed me, but I didn't bother to walk up to her. I always did it, it was her turn now.

She got the hint, and drove up to me. She stopped at my spot, and threw one foot to the ground, to keep her balance.

I started talking to her, but I don't know what came from my mouth. I could hear my speech being as it always was, but I didn't concentrate. I had bigger things in mind, I really wanted to get going now, and I just had to bump in to her. She always bothered me after we'd meet.

Before I noticed, I had challenged her to a battle. Oh well. A little warming for the league would be no harm.

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As I stand here now, I still remember all those times that girl managed to embarrass me. The lucky girl who always managed to make me forget simple thing, or just catch me when I was on my worst. She probably ended up thinking she was better than me, that she'd beat me whenever we met.

Well, she's wrong! Because here I stand, with a victorious road behind me. Defeating the Elite four was as easy as I thought it would be, and the champion! He was a piece of cake!

You heard me! I am the pokemon league champion, the most powerful trainer in all Kanto, and Johto too! There is no-one better than me! I'm glorious, I'm powerful, and I'm experienced. I'm even more than I was when I started my journey. I'm perfect! The next time that Leaf girl will see me, she'll admire me instead of looking down on me.

I hear noises from the room before mine. The former champion is probably having another battle. He'll probably lose, taking how bad he really is. This is great! Soon I'll be having my first battle as the league champion. I'll crush my challenger, and gain even more respect. Soon…

The door is opening… slowly. Someone's stepping in. A long brown hair is jumping all over she takes a step towards me…

What?! How on earth did Leaf make it here? You're joking! She actually defeated the elite four, and the former champion?!

Geez, how lucky is that girl? This is annoying! How dares she do all these thing, while having no talent?! She should just return to Pallet town, where she belongs, and be quiet! Comes here to challenge me, does she? Well, I'll show her the power of the true champion!

She walks up to me. We look at each other, seriously. I introduce myself properly, as the champion. This time I won't challenge her. This time, she's here to challenge me.

I watch as she takes up a pokeball. I take mine. It is about time I end her ridiculous games. I'm not playing around. This time, I'll seriously take her down; I'll defeat her gloriously. It is my duty as a champion, before she crushes the dream of someone with a little talent (no-one can have as much as I do, though) with that luck of hers.

At last, I will defeat her. Finally, I'll gain her respect.

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No… This can't be! I don't believe it! It's not true! It's just a nightmare, it's not real, it's not happening!

My glorious team… My powerful pokemon… Defeated… Charizard, Pidgeot, Alakazam, Rhydon, Exeggutor, Gyarados too… they're all down! I'm standing here, with nothing left in my hands… Right in front of… the new… ch-champion…

No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This isn't how it's supposed to go! I'm the most powerful trainer in the world! I'm the true champion, not some little girl who always gets lucky! Luck alone won't take you anywhere! Luck…!

Unless it isn't luck after all. Maybe that girl, that annoying little girl who can't even talk, did not depend on luck all this time? Maybe, maybe she's actually good, actually powerful? Actually better than me…?

NO! It isn't true! I'm the best, I'm the one, I'm the best! There's no way she is…! There's no way anyone is…!

I can't take this anymore! I can't stay here! This league is a cheat! A cheat! It's not real, it's not right!

I hear steps. Someone's coming… To see my humiliation! No, I can't have that! I must leave at once! Now! Quick!

I turn my back to her, and realize that I won't be able to concentrate on running if I hold back tears, it takes too much effort. I guess I'll have to let it go… If I get away fast enough, no one will see… I can't stay any longer, I must disappear. I'll go to somewhere real, where they play fair…

Who am I fooling? She defeated me. She'd the true champion. She's really powerful, really good… Really better than me. I'm a loser. A zero. I'm just a filler to make her road more interesting, I have no future, no meaning. I'm just a meaningless, powerless being…!

This is too much. Just too much. Why did I have to be born this perfect, if there's no glory left for me? Why do I have to be this talented, a genius, if I can't fulfil myself, if all I want is hers?

I lift my foot forwards, taking the first step of my run. But as I try to move, I suddenly feel something on my back. A tug, pulling backwards from my shirt. I quickly wipe my eyes, and turn my head slowly.

Obviously, the one tugging me backwards is Leaf. She's standing there, right behind me, with her hand gripping on my shirt. She's making me stay, not by force, but in a way I can't understand. Is it that strange, not happy, but not sad smile on her face? Or is it the glittering of her eyes?

Whatever it is, it's working, for now. I want to leave, but I want to know what she wants first.

I wonder if she's ever stood so close to me? Probably not. How could she have? I don't even know what her voice is like!

She's leaning towards me, slowly but surely. Her long, brown hair is falling from her shoulder, taking place between us. She has to stand on her toes so she can reach my ear. I feel her breath changing as she opens her mouth…

" Thank you," she whispers.

Even though it's a silent whisper, almost like a hiss, I can hear. Her voice is low, lower than I have ever heard a girls' be, but not manly, not at all. It has a nice ring to it… It is a quiet voice, even when she talks, I can tell. Even if she'd yell, it'd be like a gentle mumble. But despite that, it's pure. Pure and… clear.


End file.
